Rancher Footwells

New member here with my first post. I recently bought a 2014 Rancher, Manual Shift, and don’t understand the thinking behind the foot wells. Why is it made with a hole behind the foot peg? Obviously there needs to be space in front of the pegs to shift and depress the brake but I see no good reason for it behind. Initially, I thought I wouldn’t mind it too much since I’m used to riding motorcycles where the foot peg is all there is but I’ve also had plenty of experience on other ATVs with a filled-in foot well area. The added stability and comfort from not needing to balance on the small peg is very nice. I ended up removing the pegs and welding some square tubing and 1" flat steel together to fill the space in.

Does anyone out there like Honda’s design?